Bible In One Year Day 205 (Isaiah 30-31, Zephaniah 3, Proverbs 11:13-16)

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Day 205:  Promise to Zion

Agape Bible Study 
Isaiah 30 - 31 

Isaiah 30:1-7 ~ The Foolish Embassy to Egypt

This "woe" is directed against Judah, God's "rebellious children," for planning to make a treaty alliance with Egypt instead of trusting in God and in following His divine plan for them. They had already sent a royal embassy to Zoan, the Egyptian capital in the Delta (also called Avaris and Tanis) and also sent messengers to Hanes, another name for the Egyptian city of On, also called Heliopolis in the LXX (Anusis by Herodotus and Heracleopolis Magna by the Romans), a religious center dedicated to the sun god located in Northern Egypt not far from modern day Cairo.

God is aware that the Egyptians had a history of making alliances and promising assistance to allies that they never fulfilled. It is a fact that would not be missed by the Assyrians (see Is 36:6).

Verses 6-7 contain a list of the various animals that inhabit the Negev, Judah's southern desert region that the embassy must pass through to reach Egypt. The animals witnessed the Judahite envoys' caravan on the journey to Egypt, carrying the treasures with which they hope to purchase Egyptian support and protection. 

Isaiah 30:8-11 ~ Isaiah's Written Testament of Judah's Failures

Yahweh commands Isaiah to draw up a formal covenant indictment against the covenant people as a lasting witness. The purpose is for future generations to read about the corruption of the times, God's judgment against His people, and their future restoration as a lesson and an encouragement to be obedient to God.
Question: What are the accusations against the children of Israel that Isaiah is to inscribe on a tablet/scroll as a formal document of their covenant failure?
Answer:

1. They are rebellious
2. They are untruthful
3. They refuse to listen to God's Law

Isaiah 30:12-17 ~ God's two-part Judgment

The consequence of their actions is that sudden destruction was coming (30:12-17). The deceit the people had practiced would prove fruitless and their wicked "house" would come crashing down on them, bringing total devastation.
Question: What two symbolic images does God use in the first part of His judgment to describe the broken covenant?
Answer: He uses the images of a collapsed wall and a totally smashed clay pot.

Question: How did God tell the people, through His prophet, that they could be saved?

Answer: They could be saved through repentance that leads to conversion and peace with God. These actions would result in trusting God, which means living in obedience to God's divine plan and the commands and prohibitions of His laws.

Question: What was their response to God's invitation to trust Him and to accept His salvation?
Answer: The people insisted on being responsible for their own salvation, as in the Egyptian alliance, and all their efforts will fail.

God's Promised Mercy in the Restoration and Deliverance of Jerusalem (30:18-33)

God's pronouncements against Jerusalem through Isaiah in 30:15-17 sound harsh, but it was a judgment they brought upon themselves and it was a judgment that was intended to call the people to repentance and restoration of fellowship. No matter what our sins, we are never beyond God's grace. Even in our sins, God continues to love us and will forgive us when we cry out in repentance. 

Isaiah 30:18-22 ~ God is ready to Forgive and will Teach His People

Question: What three hopeful promised does Isaiah make to the covenant people in verses 18-22?

Answer:

1. God longs to be gracious to His people when they cry out to Him, and He promises that He will answer them (verses 18-19).
2. The purpose of their suffering was to turn the people back to Him so He can again become their teacher and guide their steps (verses 20-21).
3. Then they will realize the worthlessness of their false idols and will throw them away (verse 22)

Isaiah 30:23-26 ~ God will bring Great Blessings

The second aspect of God's restoration of His people is the blessings He intends to bring to them.
Question: How does Isaiah describe God bringing great blessings to His people in verses 23-25a?
Answer: God will give rain for the crops that will yield an abundant harvest. There will be more than enough food for the domesticated animals and an abundant supply of water so herdsmen will not have to search for enough water for their animals.

Isaiah 30:27-33 ~ God will Defend His People "showing His Power to the Nations

The third aspect of God's restoration is God's promise to defend His people against foreign nations.
Question: How will God display His wrath against Judah's enemy, Assyria?

Answer:

1. He will overwhelm the enemy like a blazing fire and like a flood.
2. He will sift out the wicked for judgment from which they cannot escape.

Chapter 31: Woe and Restoration Restated

Isaiah 31:1-3 ~ The People put their Trust in Egypt and not in God

Question: What argument does Isaiah make against trusting the Egyptians instead of God?
Answer:

1. They are only human, but God is divine.
2. The Egyptian resources are fallible because they are matter and not spirit.
3. God, unlike human beings, will never lie or go back on His word.

Question: What is the point of this passage?
Answer: The point is that it is not the will of God to deliver Judah through the Egyptians; in fact, and He will not allow it!

Isaiah 31:4-9 ~ God's Deliverance will lead to Redemption

Isaiah describes the day when Yahweh will deliver His people by doing battle with her enemy, the Assyrian army besieging Jerusalem. He uses the imagery of a lion and hovering birds to describe Yahweh shielding Jerusalem as He fights for them.

Question: What does Isaiah call the people to do in verses 6-7?
Answer: He calls them to repent their sin of abandoning their God and to discard and disavow their idols now that they have heard the promise of God's deliverance.

Christ and the Good Thief (Titian) 

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A Daily Defense 

DAY 205 The Good Thief and Purgatory

CHALLENGE “Purgatory cannot exist because on the cross, Christ told the good thief, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise’ (Luke 23:43).”

DEFENSE: This assumes that purgatory involves being separated from Jesus and that it takes time. 

Purgatory may not involve being separated from Jesus but may be an encounter with Jesus. Paul says our works will be tested by fire, and, if a man’s works are burned up, “he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:15). Commenting on this, Benedict XVI stated: 

Some recent theologians are of the opinion that the fire which both burns and saves is Christ himself, the Judge and Savior. The encounter with him is the decisive act of judgment. Before his gaze all falsehood melts away. This encounter with him, as it burns us, transforms and frees us, allowing us to become truly ourselves. All that we build during our lives can prove to be mere straw, pure bluster, and it collapses. Yet in the pain of this encounter, when the impurity and sickness of our lives become evident to us, there lies salvation. His gaze, the touch of his heart heals us through an undeniably painful transformation ‘as through fire.’

But it is a blessed pain, in which the holy power of his love sears through us like a flame, enabling us to become totally ourselves and thus totally of God (Spe Salvi 47). 

How long would this take? According to Benedict XVI: “It is clear that we cannot calculate the ‘duration’ of this transforming burning in terms of the chronological measurements of this world.

The transforming ‘moment’ of this encounter eludes earthly time-reckoning—it is the heart’s time” (ibid.).

God can transform a person as quickly as he chooses. Paul speaks of those on the last day being transformed “in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:52). The thief could die with Christ, be transformed by him “in the twinkling of an eye,” and be with him in paradise—all on Good Friday.

What Jesus meant by “today” is debatable. The punctuation marks are not in the original Greek, and “today” may refer to when Jesus gives the thief the assurance (“Truly, I say to you today”) rather than when he will be in paradise.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist